Warriors will open Hoopfest with haka

Lifting weights, running sprints and shooting baskets were all standard drills for the Hawaii basketball team during the preseason.

One not-so-standard drill was the practicing of a Tahitian haka.

The Warriors plan to open the ‘Ohana Hoopfest with the haka, and it will culminate over a month’s worth of practice.

“When we first started learning it, we had to do it over and over,” freshman Trevor Wiseman said. “I would come out of there sweating as much as regular (basketball) practice.”

Manarii Gauthier from the dance group Ia Ora O Tahiti Nui directed the Warriors during the practice sessions, and it wasn’t easy. The current roster of Warriors includes just one Hawaii-raised player – walk-on Pi’i Minns.

“It’s totally out of our element,” said junior Anthony Salter, who is from Tallahassee, Fla. “But it’s fun to get together with the team, and we’re bonding as we’re doing it. There’s a lot of laughs.”

Rumor has it head coach Gib Arnold and his staff have been secretly practicing a haka of their own to be unveiled at ‘Ohana Hoopfest.

Bighilofan2, YES kind sir I am very please of Dayton’s creation of the Warrior Insider !

Being a former Bow from the mid 70’s and early 80’s still have the loyalty and passion
for Rainbow Basketball. Coach Gib Arnold is doing an omens job with recruiting and with
these young freshmen developing over time it won’t be long for the Bows being on top in
basketball with the GREAT tradition that this program has had and will have again !

hey, nice site. good to see you back ” covering” basketball. I will be joining bobby again as the color analyst on radio and have started the basketball blog this week at http://www.staradvertiser.com. Look forward to seeing you at practice and the games

Great work, Dayton. We just gave your site a plug on our ESPN 1420 Honolulu Facebook page. Best of luck in making this site grow. For UH basketball fans like myself, it’s a fantastic idea. Keep up the superb work!

Great site Dayton. Looks like you have access to things that most fans do not. Coach Gib and his program can only benefit from your site and the marketing dept. at UH can surely use all the help you can offer. Hope this site remains viable for a long time. Men’s Volleyball and Baseball could also use your expertise when the season changes. I also miss the reporting and writings of Wes Nakama if you can find a place for him.

As far as the basketball team’s haka… they need to be more warrior-like, and stop trying to dance so much. When done with passion and intensity, this psyches up the fans, which in turn psyches the team. We all feed off of each other, and the team needs to realize that. Get mean with it!!!